Corvus 415 Handheld Electronic Calculator

This handheld electronic calculator has a tan plastic case and twenty-four rectangular plastic keys. The ten digit keys and the decimal point key are brown. The total key, four arithmetic function keys, inverse key, exchange key, percentage key, and four memory keys are lighter brown. The clear key is orange. Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit red LED display. The on/off switch and the socket for a power adapter are along the top edge.

A battery pack at the base of the back of the calculator would hold four batteries. A tag above the battery compartment reads in part: CORVUS 415 (/) ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR. It also reads: SERIAL NO. (/) 415-100759. It also reads: POWER 8VDC 100 mA 115 (/) VAC with adaptor. (/) CAUTION Attempted repair (/) by unauthorized persons will (/) void warranty. (/) corvus (/) [. . .] EXAS

Four screws hold the back of the calculator to the front. Taking off the back reveals two circuits, one of green plastic and the other (directly under the keys) apparently of glass. A mark on the smaller board reads: corvus. Another mark reads: 1700135B. The chip is not visible. Founded in 1969 as a spinoff of Texas Instruments, Mostek Corporation became a leading manufacturer of semiconductors. Some of its first products were chips used by the Japanese firm of Busicom in desktop electronic calculators. In 1970 Busicom introduced such a calculator that used only a single Mostek chip. Mostek became one of the world’s leading manufacturers of metal oxide semiconductor read-only memories, before being acquired by United Technologies in 1979.

For a brief time in the 1970s Mostek also sold electronic calculators through a subsidiary, Corvus Corporation of Dallas, Texas. According to trademark registration for Corvus, the term was first used in commerce referring to an electronic digital calculator in 1973. The latest Corvus calculator in the collections dates from about 1976.

References:

[Advertisement], Chicago Tribune, October 1, 1974, p. 6. Several Corvus calculators advertised. The Corvus 415, regularly $89.95, is advertised as on sale for $59.88.

Manual at http://www.wass.net/manuals/Corvus%20415.pdf, accessed June 13, 2014.

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